RCMP set to tackle extremism at home with program to curb radicalization of Canadian youth

The federal government is preparing to launch a national counter-radicalization program in response to the growing number of troubled Canadians who are being lured into the world of extremist violence promoted by Al-Qaeda.

Following a year that saw young Canadian extremists killed in Syria, Algeria and Somalia, and the arrests of suspects planning alleged attacks in Ontario and B.C., officials are putting the finishing touches on a plan to tackle radicalization.

The RCMP is putting together a program to help frontline officers respond when parents, educators or others in the community suspect a youth is being radicalized. It would apply only to those who have not yet crossed the line into terrorism.

The police force is also working with Public Safety Canada on a Canadian “counter-narrative” to challenge extremist propaganda, much of it online, that has convinced 130 Canadians to join overseas terror groups, including 30 in Syria alone.

The plans were discussed at a closed-door government conference in Toronto two weeks ago but sources who attended spoke about it and the Mountie overseeing the project confirmed the program would be unveiled in the coming months.

“Yes, we’re developing a program,” said Supt. Shirley Cuillierrier, the officer in charge of federal policing, partnership and external relations. In an interview, she declined to reveal the details but said she wanted “every single police officer in the country” to feel comfortable responding to radicalization.

“Where I want to get to is, the frontline police officer, let’s say in Toronto or Regina, gets a phone call from a parent. I want he or she to be able to have a level of confidence and comfort in terms of … how they triage this and what they need to consider. So that program, we’re developing that.”

Since the Toronto 18 terrorist group plotted Al-Qaeda-style attacks in southern Ontario in 2006 there has been mounting concern over the indoctrination of Canadians into extreme anti-Western ideology. Last year, two London, Ont. men were part of an Al-Qaeda-linked attack at an Algerian gas plant that left 39 foreign workers and a local security guard dead.

At least three Canadians have died since last August while fighting with Al-Qaeda factions in Syria, most recently Damian Clairmont, a 22-year-old from Calgary who had attempted suicide before taking up arms. Four Somali-Canadians who joined Al-Shabab have died in recent years, the last during a suicide attack on the Mogadishu courthouse.

Meanwhile, two Muslim converts were arrested for allegedly attempting to bomb the B.C. legislature on Canada Day, and a pair of immigrants were charged last April over what police described as an Al-Qaeda-linked plot to derail a Toronto-bound passenger train.

In its 2012 counter-terrorism strategy, the government called “violent Islamist extremism” the leading threat to national security and promised preventative measures to address “the factors that may motivate individuals to engage in terrorist activities.”

But while federal agencies have tried to build bridges with community organizations and funded research through the Kanishka project, set up in memory of the victims of the 1985 Air India bombing, Ottawa has not yet launched any formal programs to fight radicalization.

What I’m trying to do is, if you kind of picture a speedometer — zero to 180 — we want to work with communities, families, individuals, teachers perhaps, in that pre-criminal space, so the zero to 90. After the 90, that becomes the criminal operations

“What I’m trying to do is, if you kind of picture a speedometer — zero to 180 — we want to work with communities, families, individuals, teachers perhaps, in that pre-criminal space, so the zero to 90. After the 90, that becomes the criminal operations,” Supt. Cuillierrier said.

The superintendent said she wants to make counter-radicalization just another part of community policing so any officer will know what to do and can help mobilize a response.

“With radicalization, many times we may initially get the phone call but we’re not in a position to actually do the follow-through. It may be in the form of a psychologist, it may be a religious leader, it may be a community leader — whatever the need is. So that’s what we’re trying to do,” she said, “to have police officers more comfortable with dealing with this issue of radicalization.”

Many Western countries already have counter-radicalization programs in place. The United Kingdom’s controversial “Prevent” strategy aims to identify and provide support to those considered at risk of radicalization.

Canadian officials have been looking at existing programs, among them Hayat, run by the German-based group EXIT, which helps neo-Nazis abandon far-right extremism. “We’ve touched base with several European partners and we’ve taken the nuggets from the different programs we see as applicable to our landscape,” Supt. Cuillierrier said.

Because it revolves around ideological and religious beliefs, radicalization is a sensitive area for police, especially since in many cases no crimes have been committed. But Supt. Cuillierrier said it was “community policing 101” — no different from helping families deal with drug use, suicide attempts or domestic assaults.

“When a call comes you want to be able to help and react, and pull in the appropriate community partners,” she said. “If I look at young people that are being radicalized, there are signals and people absolutely do observe a change in behaviour, but no one’s calling the police.”

She said families fear that the youths in question could be arrested if police are brought in. “But I think we’re at a point in this country now where the parents or the loved one has got to ask him or herself, do they want the help or do they risk not ever seeing their child again?”